Leonida Swamplands — Airboat Chase Through the Everglades
First look at the Everglades-inspired swamp region. Dense vegetation, dynamic water, and an airboat confirm swamp gameplay.
Overview
The Grassrivers region — GTA 6's take on the Florida Everglades — is on full display in this Trailer 2 screenshot, and it represents a fundamental shift in how Rockstar approaches natural environments. The real Everglades is a 1.5-million-acre "river of grass" — not a traditional swamp but a slow-moving sheet of water flowing through sawgrass prairie — and GTA 6 appears to understand this distinction.
The water simulation is genuinely next-generation. Rather than a flat reflective plane, we see shallow water with visible limestone bottom textures, deeper channels serving as navigation routes, and dynamic displacement from the airboat's wake interacting with vegetation and shoreline. Floating organic matter — lily pads, algae, fallen leaves — reacts to water movement with convincing physics.
The vegetation layers are extraordinary. Foreground sawgrass shows individual blade geometry. Mid-ground cypress trees display accurate "knee" root structures and Spanish moss draping. Background mangroves create a dense wall of green. The ecosystem reads as authentic to anyone who's visited the real Everglades — this isn't a generic swamp, it's specifically the River of Grass.
The airboat — a new vehicle class for GTA — is beautifully detailed with its signature rear-mounted propeller cage, flat aluminum hull, and elevated captain's chair. A spotlight mounted on the bow suggests nighttime navigation and mission potential. Real Everglades airboats are essential transportation in a landscape where conventional boats run aground on the shallow limestone shelves, and GTA 6 appears to nail their unique handling characteristics.
The water rendering here is next-generation. We can see the airboat's wake creating realistic displacement waves that interact with the shoreline. Floating debris — logs, lily pads, and what appears to be algae — all react to the water movement. Subsurface scattering is visible where shallow water meets the muddy banks.
Look carefully at the right side of the frame — there's what appears to be an alligator partially submerged near the bank. If wildlife plays a gameplay role similar to RDR2, the Everglades could be a hunting/survival zone. Birds are visible in the sky, and the tree canopy shows what might be a heron or egret perched on a branch.
The vastness of this swamp area suggests the Leonida map extends well beyond the urban Vice City core. Based on the draw distance visible here, this swamp region alone could be several square kilometers. The terrain transitions from deep water channels to shallow marshland to solid ground with trees — suggesting varied traversal mechanics.
Volumetric fog is doing heavy lifting here. It creates depth layers that make the swamp feel genuinely oppressive and atmospheric. Combined with what appears to be dynamic cloud shadows passing over the landscape, the lighting creates a moody, almost threatening ambiance. This is Rockstar's answer to RDR2's Bayou Nwa — but bigger and better.
